Page 17 of Killing Mind

He didn’t move back as he stared at them questioningly.

‘May we come in, Mr Brown?’ she asked.

He jumped back as though remembering his manners.

‘Of course. I’m sorry, but…’

‘In here?’ Kim asked, heading for the office they’d used the previous day.

‘Yes, yes. I’m afraid my wife isn’t up yet. She hasn’t left the bedroom since we returned from the morgue yesterday.’

Kim nodded her understanding. ‘And is your other daughter at home, Mr Brown?’

He appeared surprised at the question.

‘No, she’s not here right now.’

Kim idly wondered where she was in the country that she hadn’t come home to be with her parents following the death of her sibling.

‘Mr Brown, I’m afraid we’re going to need your wife present for this conversation…’

‘But I don’t…’

‘Mr Brown, please go and ask your wife to join us,’ she insisted.

He gave her one last look before leaving the room.

Bryant stood by the window and she turned the captain’s chair, leaving the two-seater sofa free for the married couple to sit together. They would need each other’s support once they heard what she had to say.

Mrs Brown entered the room looking ten years older than the day before. Her face was devoid of make-up revealing red blotchy skin from crying and dark circles beneath her eyes. Her hair was uncombed and unwashed. She clutched a white handkerchief. Kim judged her for nothing. The woman had lost a child. The reality of that had not sunk in, less than 24 hours later, and now she was about to make it worse.

Kim noted Kate Brown’s expression before she began speaking. There was fear but also hope. As though they were here to tell them there’d been some kind of mistake, even though she’d seen her daughter’s dead body.

Kim took a breath. ‘Mrs Brown, Mr Brown, I’m afraid we have new information about the death of Samantha that would reclassify it from suicide to murder.’

Mr Brown’s legs appeared to buckle beneath him as Mrs Brown’s hand shot to her open mouth. Mr Brown almost fell into the seat beside his wife. Their legs touched and Mrs Brown moved her leg away. It was a subtle but definite movement, but Kim could see the change in dynamics between the two of them as clearly as she could see the strip of daylight between their two bodies.

It wasn’t unusual for even the closest of couples to drift apart temporarily as they each came to terms with the loss of a child separately.

‘M… murder?’ Mrs Brown finally spluttered.

Kim nodded. ‘We believe it was someone she knew who did not have to force entry to her home.’

Both of them began to shake their heads in denial.

Kim continued. ‘We need to know if she’d had any recent issues with anyone, any arguments; had she mentioned anything strange?’

‘Nothing,’ Myles said, as Kate looked to the ground. ‘She was a kind, gentle girl. She never upset anyone.’

Kim noted that his wife was now pulling on the white handkerchief.

‘Mrs Brown?’

She shook her head but didn’t look up.

Kim could see from the corner of her eye that Bryant was watching them closely too. Something here was not quite right but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

‘Mr Brown, Samantha attended Dudley College?’